Hallmark's "It's Christmas, Eve": Superstar LeAnn Rimes On Her New Holiday Movie and Music

05 November 2018

HALLMARK CHANNEL, Saturday, Nov. 10, 8:00 PM ET

By Kellie Freeze

Multiplatinum singer LeAnn Rimes makes her Hallmark Channel debut when she stars in It’s Christmas, Eve, airing Saturday as part of the network’s annual Countdown to Christmas programming extravaganza.

Rimes stars in the festive tale as Eve, an interim school superintendent whose necessary cost-cutting measures threaten the music department of her childhood school — until she tries to find a way to save it.

Rimes says that, in the film, music has the power to open Eve’s formerly closed heart. And for Rimes, the transformative and emotional power of music is something that inspires her as a musician.

“I’m always trying to capture someone’s heart with music,” says Rimes, “and get to those places where they don’t normally go. I think this movie does that in so many ways.”

The actress, who also serves as an executive producer on the project, is proud that the film highlights the story of a blended family and the importance of music to education.

“I have two stepsons, so the blended family aspect was really important for me to talk about,” she says. “It is something that I don’t think gets put into enough entertainment and has light shed on it, in a positive way. We also talk about music and arts in schools and how important it is to keep those there. Academically, kids do so much better when music and art are in the schools.”

The two-time Grammy winner has written and will perform three original songs for the film: the reflective and heartbreaking ballad “It’s Christmas, Eve,” the up-tempo showstopper “You and Me and Christmas,” and the weddingworthy love song “The Gift of Your Love.” Rimes explains how the songs came to be for her and her collaborator, Darrell Brown. “We sat down to write ‘It’s Christmas, Eve’ first, and it just kinda poured out.

It came out so simply; it’s such a blessing when that happens,” she says. “‘You and Me and Christmas’ is one of the songs that gets in your head, and it’s super jolly and fun. It’s one of those ear-candy songs.” Rimes also shares, “The other song we wrote was ‘The Gift of Your Love,’ which fits perfectly in the film. It’s not necessarily about the holidays, but it’s such a beautiful love song that I’ll be singing it even when it’s not Christmas.”

Rimes admits one charming reason she is so excited to star in a new holiday film.

“The first movie that I ever shot was a holiday film with Bernadette Peters called Holiday in Your Heart. It plays every year, over and over again. I’m finally like, ‘OK, I need to have something out there that people can watch around the holidays where I’m not 14 years old.’” She laughs. “Hallmark is such a great channel — they really are the kings of the holiday films. So the idea of me shooting a Hallmark holiday film with a musical angle seemed like the perfect fit!”

Rimes shares a story from the set of It’s Christmas, Eve that may be evidence of a little divine intervention.

“We were filming in a church/community center, and the space had accidentally been double-booked, so we only had 15 minutes to shoot this scene with eight people sitting around a table and a buttload of dialogue,” she recalls, admitting that the tight deadline had her feeling underprepared and overwhelmed.

“We had two attempts at the scene, and first time, I screwed up everything. I had no idea what I was saying. And then, just before the second take, I just looked up, and I said, ‘Oh my God, help!’ And they called, ‘Action!’ and everything was perfect, and everything came out right. Something much bigger than me saved my butt at that moment. Yeah, those are the moments you’re like, ‘Oh thank God,’ literally!”

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